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Kel worked fairly late into the night, spending most of his time combining the materials he needed before the pour. Hammering the shield into shape took little time, grinding and buffing slightly less time, then coloring and engraving which instead took more concentration. It wasn't terribly late by the time Kel had finished. He was a bit ahead of schedule but figured that was just more opportunity to get some rest. After wrapping the shield in some burlap to keep it clean and free of dust, Kel set it on the shelf with other completed crafts before retiring to the house for the night.

Kel followed his routine for the next morning like clockwork. He prepared breakfast for his family and had a bit of it himself before heading into the shop to clean up. His only real break in routine is that he decided to clean up shop before training rather than after.

Menos found himself approaching the cataclysm's edge fairly quickly, despite having lost the dirt path some time ago. After making his way to the store front side of the complex, He paused and looked around the open field by the shop and the empty work area. It wasn't extremely early in the morning, but was it within business hours he wondered? Giving a quick tap of the door, Menos called out, "Hello? Kel?"

Moriarty returned in the morning to pick up the shield he had requested the night before. He came to find Menos talking to the blacksmith he was to pay. "Well hello there." He said, nodded to the two. "How's the shield looking?"

Seth's brief word of greeting shook away some of Maryl's grogginess, getting her eyes open wide as she felt a need to hurry after Seth down the stairs, "Sis, wait! I sensed something! Something about the people of fire!" She managed to catch up but only because Seth was headed to the kitchen anyway. Noticing Seth was all dressed up and ready to go out, Maryl paused, "Are you going to work early?" She felt a bit disheveled at the moment, being still barefoot and in her pajamas.

Menos kept up, making sure not to touch anything as he entered the workshop after Moriarty and Kel. Admittedly he hadn't known the first thing about a smith's workplace, and the machinery and tools about the area were entirely foreign aside from the obvious things. He had to clear a bit of his hair to get a better look at Moriarty's new shield and inspected it carefully. The design stood out fairly quickly to him as he replied, "Interesting. I hadn't pegged you for a devout to the god of time." He glanced over to Kel, "I must admit, the royal smiths would be jealous."

"Well, not until noon," Maryl replied, scratching her head. "So uh... Why do you have a job anyway?", Maryl asked nervously. Attempting to explain herself, she put her index fingers together bashfully and looked down at them, "I mean, Dad asked me if I wanted to go to school some time ago, and I decided not to, but I'm... I'm not sure now." Getting a bit red-faced, Maryl looked away. "I think I wouldn't mind being home-schooled. I think I'm pretty good at studying on my own. It got me this far, and at least it won't get me a citation at the library for goofing off at work."

Maryl froze in confusion and surprise. It probably wasn't a secret, but she spoke quietly as she had to ask, "Masters? As in like masters degree? already? How?" Maryl lost sight of the ballet concern, which was probably the main point, but she had to know. She just had to know the big secret.